Abstract
Water level sensors are one of the practical ways to get the actual measurement of the depth of a dam or canal. The ease of deployment and easy data acquisition makes them widely used in many fields. Therefore, it will be advantageous to have a miniaturized water level sensor for easier mobility and deployment. A novel method for measuring water level using a Printed Circuit Board has been proposed in this paper. The design stages of circuit sketching, printing of sketch on PCB and etching are discussed for the electrode water level sensor. A signal conditioning circuit is necessary to maintain a steady flow of current from the power source. The fabricated electrode water level sensor was tested based on its capacitive effect while charging up and the amount of current at each electrode finger at the saturation stage. The hardware enablers for this test were the multimeter and LCR meter. Arduino microprocessor was used to test and measure the transient response time for each electrode finger. The transient response sensitivity of the electrode sensor is measured to be 0.0873 millisecond/cm while the resolution of the electrode sensor is 0.1cm over a range of 30cm water level. A multiple correlation of 0.921 was achieved for the water level, measured current and measured capacitance with P-values less than 0.05 indicating strength of the data obtained from the tests conducted. The result showed strong evidence that the electrode water level sensor can be an alternative method of measuring water level.
Highlights
This article is an extension of the work presented during the ICCCE’18 Conference in September2018
This paper describes the design and testing of a water level measurement system based on a capacitive effect with parallel electrode fingers of uniformly increasing length on a printed circuit board (PCB)
Figure 6 showed the electrode water level sensor under evaluation which each electrode finger current was compared with water level
Summary
This article is an extension of the work presented during the ICCCE’18 Conference in September2018. This article provides more comprehensive details on the previous work as the study developed further by testing the performance and durability of the PCB level sensor. Water level sensors are based on a principal of height measurement using digital technology. There are two main types of water level sensors, they are contact and non-contact water level sensors. Non-contact, continuous level sensors include Ultrasonic sensors, Radar Level sensors and optical sensors. Point level sensors include Float Switch, Capacitance sensor, Conductivity probes and Magnetic Level Gauges [2]. The use of optical fibers to measure water level has gradually increased. Optical fibers became a popular choice due to their application of the principle of light, light transmission and reflection of light to make a good sensor for measuring liquid height [5]. Gathered literature in [6,7,8,9] as shown that the principle of capacitance liquid
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Bulletin of Electrical Engineering and Informatics
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
